honest, she retreated.
Rygard remained silent for a moment, watching her leave. The previous night, he’d been fascinated by the contradictions she presented. Now, he didn’t trust a single thing about them. Another pretty face, out to play him. Wasn’t she? A couple of those contradictions made him wonder how stupid he might be. Probably a little. Maybe a lot.
“She’s being fair, you know.” The heavy techno-geek turned away from the scrolling data displays to look at him. “She didn’t ask for the data I sent on you. I realized she planned to go with you and wanted her to know who she chose, but I guess my gift didn’t go over well.”
The stab of guilt hit hard.
A long moment of scrutiny. The kid perceived too much. The servo-chair spun again, and Boggle brought another console to life at the end of the counter. “Here’s her background data to even out the score. It’s buried under so much security, I practically had to hack to the earth’s core to get to it. So don’t touch anything.”
Why so much security? “Because she’s a mutation? How did she get her hands on the procedure?”
Boggle shook his head. “You soldier types absorb better in a briefing than you do reading up on reports, don’t you?” He tapped the display, zooming in to a specific set of files. “She didn’t go looking for the procedure. Three years ago, she lived on Triton Moon Base when it was occupied in a hostile attack. She played a key role in the rescue of the station and remaining personnel—as a cadet.”
Rygard knew of the incident. A small group of cadets had gotten a distress call out to Earth and provided valuable intel to Terran rescue forces, nothing short of amazing under the circumstances.
“Impressive.” He could respect the girl who’d survived the incident. Considering what he’d seen of her, she excelled in combat situations. A natural leader.
“Not merely impressive.” Boggle called up a set of medical reports. “She’s a survivor, captured during the occupation and taken prisoner.”
If the tech didn’t have his attention yet, he did now. Any female taken prisoner, and a girl as pretty as Kaitlyn, could face a lot of things and every one bound to be a nightmare.
And he’d seen nightmares haunting those beautiful eyes.
But the techno-geek didn’t leave it to imagination. He pulled up an audio file. “This is a clip of the debrief after she escaped captivity.”
A voice issued from sound projectors all around the room, Kaitlyn’s. The warm tone he remembered absent, her words flat and dead. “The virus took days to spread through my body. Fevers, acute muscle cramps, possibly a seizure, but I’m not sure. Halfway through the change, he came to my cell.” A pause. “He wrapped my hair around my neck, saying it would do for a collar until he could have a proper one made. Then he…” Her voice hitched. “He raped me. It took another couple of days for the change to complete.”
The audio clip ended. Boggle cleared his throat before he spoke again. “There are later briefs going into more detail. They made her tell every detail eventually.” He stopped to chug more coffee, grimacing as if he had a bad taste in his mouth. “Kaitlyn’s the only one left of the cadets taken. The rest didn’t survive the virus or the genetic mutation it forced on them at the cellular level. It was bioengineered to create true lycanthropes, shapeshifters.”
“Is that all?” Rygard worked to keep his voice steady. He’d been a dipshit to get mad at her for not revealing her trauma, for assuming she’d chosen to be what she was.
“Rape turned out to be only one aspect of the torture. Beatings occurred repeatedly, and humiliation—chained to the lead invader’s chair and displayed as a trophy.” The information kept flowing. “The mutation is permanent and irreversible. According to her psych profiles, she’s not suicidal anymore, but she’s spent the last three years trying to
Rygard remained silent for a moment, watching her leave. The previous night, he’d been fascinated by the contradictions she presented. Now, he didn’t trust a single thing about them. Another pretty face, out to play him. Wasn’t she? A couple of those contradictions made him wonder how stupid he might be. Probably a little. Maybe a lot.
“She’s being fair, you know.” The heavy techno-geek turned away from the scrolling data displays to look at him. “She didn’t ask for the data I sent on you. I realized she planned to go with you and wanted her to know who she chose, but I guess my gift didn’t go over well.”
The stab of guilt hit hard.
A long moment of scrutiny. The kid perceived too much. The servo-chair spun again, and Boggle brought another console to life at the end of the counter. “Here’s her background data to even out the score. It’s buried under so much security, I practically had to hack to the earth’s core to get to it. So don’t touch anything.”
Why so much security? “Because she’s a mutation? How did she get her hands on the procedure?”
Boggle shook his head. “You soldier types absorb better in a briefing than you do reading up on reports, don’t you?” He tapped the display, zooming in to a specific set of files. “She didn’t go looking for the procedure. Three years ago, she lived on Triton Moon Base when it was occupied in a hostile attack. She played a key role in the rescue of the station and remaining personnel—as a cadet.”
Rygard knew of the incident. A small group of cadets had gotten a distress call out to Earth and provided valuable intel to Terran rescue forces, nothing short of amazing under the circumstances.
“Impressive.” He could respect the girl who’d survived the incident. Considering what he’d seen of her, she excelled in combat situations. A natural leader.
“Not merely impressive.” Boggle called up a set of medical reports. “She’s a survivor, captured during the occupation and taken prisoner.”
If the tech didn’t have his attention yet, he did now. Any female taken prisoner, and a girl as pretty as Kaitlyn, could face a lot of things and every one bound to be a nightmare.
And he’d seen nightmares haunting those beautiful eyes.
But the techno-geek didn’t leave it to imagination. He pulled up an audio file. “This is a clip of the debrief after she escaped captivity.”
A voice issued from sound projectors all around the room, Kaitlyn’s. The warm tone he remembered absent, her words flat and dead. “The virus took days to spread through my body. Fevers, acute muscle cramps, possibly a seizure, but I’m not sure. Halfway through the change, he came to my cell.” A pause. “He wrapped my hair around my neck, saying it would do for a collar until he could have a proper one made. Then he…” Her voice hitched. “He raped me. It took another couple of days for the change to complete.”
The audio clip ended. Boggle cleared his throat before he spoke again. “There are later briefs going into more detail. They made her tell every detail eventually.” He stopped to chug more coffee, grimacing as if he had a bad taste in his mouth. “Kaitlyn’s the only one left of the cadets taken. The rest didn’t survive the virus or the genetic mutation it forced on them at the cellular level. It was bioengineered to create true lycanthropes, shapeshifters.”
“Is that all?” Rygard worked to keep his voice steady. He’d been a dipshit to get mad at her for not revealing her trauma, for assuming she’d chosen to be what she was.
“Rape turned out to be only one aspect of the torture. Beatings occurred repeatedly, and humiliation—chained to the lead invader’s chair and displayed as a trophy.” The information kept flowing. “The mutation is permanent and irreversible. According to her psych profiles, she’s not suicidal anymore, but she’s spent the last three years trying to
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